How Colors in Your Website Affect User Perception

Whether you’re planning out a new website or maybe redesigning an existing one, choosing the right colors can mean a lot to your visitors and how they perceive your brand. A recent study dives into the psychology behind each dominant color of your design and the underlying connotation it carries with it for logos, websites and marketing collateral.

Over 43% of people say that BLUE is their favorite color. When users see predominately blue websites or logos, the words Trust, Strength, Royal, Loyal, Smart, Technological and Dependable come to mind. Additionally, some users may see blue as Cold or Liberal. Popular blue logos include CBS, Sears, Facebook, IBM, Intel, Dell and Sony.

A GREEN website gives users the impression that you are Peaceful, Earthy, Healthy, Natural, Organic, Wealthy, and Promoting Growth. On the flip side, it may also have your customers questioning if you are Inexperienced, Greedy or just Lucky. Popular green logos include BP, Spotify, Heineken, Xbox and Publix.

If you think creating a PINK web design will target a female crowd, well then you would be correct. Pink is often associated primary with Feminine, Gentle, Delicate and Romantic but also makes your site feel Fun and Young. It’s perhaps no surprise when you take a look at popular pink logos that they primarily target a female audience: T-Mobile, Barbie, Pinterest

When it comes to your website’s color palette, what can BROWN do for you? Much like green, a brown site suggests an Earthy feel, but quite the opposite of the inexperienced thoughts that may run with a green screen, brown gives the impression of Stability, Rustic, Depth, Comfort, and Utility. However, users may also view brown as Impoverished, Old, and Rough. UPS is probably the most popular brown logo.

It should come as no surprise that a predominately BLACK site may come across as the dark side. Many users may assume your image is Menacing, Evil, or Nefarious but moreso, Black can mean Bold, Traditional, Classic and Important. With such a large spectrum of emotions conveyed by black, there is a fine line to walk when designing a black website.

As a polar opposite color, it makes sense that WHITE would have polar opposite connotations. In contrast to the evil thoughts that may run through one’s head when viewing a black site, a mostly white site shows Purity, Innocence, Cleanliness and Peace. Of course, it may also show Simplicity, Unqualified or Uncreative. With white being the default color of all website backgrounds, it’s easy to mistake a white design for a lack of colorful creativity, so it’s important to be even more creative when designing a white website.

No color pops quite like YELLOW, which will have your site users feeling Warm, Friendly, Energetic, Fun, Happy, Exciting and Optimistic. Yellow can mean Caution which is something you’ll want to use when designing an all yellow site, because users who viewed a yellow screen for too long soon became tired and complained of sore eyes. Some popular yellow logos include Sonic, McDonalds, Subway, Hardees, Nerf and Sprint.

When you think of an ORANGE company, it’s hard not to think of Home Depot – who has truly embraced The Orange Life. Though what do users feel when they view a mostly orange website? Creativity, Cheer, Energy, Confidence, Warmth, Creative, and Hassle-free. Seems great, right? So why doesn’t Home Depot have an orange website to match their logo and company color? In fact, most companies with an orange logo have a very limited amount of the red yellow mixture. Perhaps, it’s close enough to yellow that it wears on users excitability? Alongside Home Depot, other popular orange logos include Harley Davidson, Nickelodeon, MasterCard, Palm, and countless colleges.

RED websites tend to pull emotions that match several of the above colors. They are Dangerous and Bold like black sites. They are Exciting like yellow, Strong like blue, Fun like pink, and Energetic like orange designs. Users also describe red sites with words like Rebellious, Passion, and Action. Red is a very popular color for logos – probably only second to blue. Red logos include CNN, KFC, Red Bull, YouTube, Yahoo!, MTV, Puma, Exxon, Costco, Disney, ESPN and of course Coca-Cola.